Don’t Worry, The City Of Portland Isn’t Watching You…But They Are Listening

Perhaps you've noticed some interesting looking monitors hanging from posts around the city of Portland recently. Initially, it would have been reasonable to believe they were just traffic cameras or possibly had to do with some sort of emergency response. But Randy Billings of the Portland Press Herald had a different idea when taking a closer look at them. He wondered, are parts of Portland under 24/7 surveillance.

Good news, you can put away your big brother conspiracy theories right now because the city of Portland wasted no time responding to Mr. Billings. Those devices aren't cameras at all. But, they are devices and they are listening.

The city of Portland installed 13 different devices citywide in hopes of figuring out just how noisy Portland is. How loud does the city get when concerts are taking place? What about when there's a wild night in the Old Port? How about first Friday and the foot traffic? What about the multitude of construction projects taking place in the city? How does that impact the noise?